Orioles Win Their Sixth Straight With Smallball And A Huge Defensive Play In Houston

Someone was eventually going to win this battle of bunts.

With the Orioles and Astros both largely inept at the plate, leaving runners on and swinging and missing all over the place, they took to laying down bunts and relying on ground balls to settle this affair. Houston, it turns out, was more inept fielding the ball and the Orioles showed more hustle and fortitude and escaped with their sixth-straight win in bonkers fashion

This 4-2 victory at Daikin Park will not be easily replicated.

The Orioles struck out 15 times, after fanning 13 times Friday, and they won both games. Mike Elias insists on Gunnar Henderson batting at the top of this lineup and he is beyond futile at this point (0-for-10 in the series, three more strikeouts Saturday, inept in clutch spots) and he made what could have been a critical error, too, but Baltimore overcame that, too.

What was mostly a game of poor at bats and missed opportunities turned wild in the late innings, with the Orioles getting yet another strong start (Trevor Rogers this time) to set up the wild finish.

The Astros, in a deep hitting funk and losing top bats Jeremy Pena and Christian Walker to injury along the way Saturday, tied the score at 1 on a sacrifice bunt in the 9th and could do no more damage. The Orioles plated the “zombie runner” barely, in the 10th on Jeremiah Jackson’s beautiful squeeze bunt, but nothing further.

And we weren’t close to being done with smallball yet.

Somehow the Orioles prevented more runs from scoring in the 10th. The Astros had the game tied at 2 and should have won it on Yordan Alvarez’s smash down the right field line with two on. But the ground rule double forced Nick Allen to stay at third, where he would be stranded through improbable circumstances.

It looked like it might end when Isaac Paredes reached on Henderson’s errant throw, but he was the only runner to advance and with the bases loaded Jose Altuve flew out to medium-shallow right field. Tyler O’Neill, one of just two outfielders used with rookie manager Craig Albernaz trying an extra fielder in this desperate instance, saved the game.

"Pete (Alonso, at first base) was adament about doing it," Albernaz said of the gutsy strategy.

O'Neill made it pay off. He got his body behind the ball in the gap and uncorked a throw up the line and rookie catcher Samuel Basallo, still just 21, made a diving tag on Allen for a double play.

“I just ripped it man,” O’Neill told the MASN broadcast after the game of his somersault throw. “I didn’t really look at where it was going.”

Albernaz said: "Making sure he got behind the ball was the biggest thing."

And in a battle of bunts, Lamonte Wade’s attempt to win the game that way went badly for Houston. The bunt was fielded by Andrew Kittredge who barely got Wade at first. Inning over. It would only get weirder from there

Fittingly, in the 11th, with two outs and Henderson on second, O’Neil’s swinging bunt of sorts was not charged by Altuve, playing deep, and the right-fielder beat the throw to first as Henderson came all the way around the score.

“A little extra adrenaline - game is on the line,” O’Neill said of his shocking sprint speed. “Awesome for Gunny to score.”

Albernaz said: "Making sure he got behind the ball was the biggest thing."

Leody Taveras, among the more clutch hitters on this club all season, flared a single for a 4-2 lead, and reliever Cam Sanders, who made his debut in a huge spot Friday, pitched a clean 11th to end this wacky game and keep the Orioles in their best extended stretch of the season by far.

Don’t Forget About The Starter

The Orioles needed their starter to be great, because they aren’t hitting much of anything away from home.

Rogers continues an outstanding run the last six weeks, forming an elite battery with Basallo as his regular catcher (career ERA below 2.50 with him). Rogers went 6 1/3 Saturday, scattered seven hits, only walked one, and struck out eight.

"He was outstanding," Albernaz said, noting "I had to pry him off the mound a little bit."

His command was stellar – 72 strikes on 99 pitches – and he’s done nothing but raise his value ahead of the trade deadline. Since June 1 Rogers has made eight starters, and allowed just nine earned runs in 49 innings, with a WHIP of 1.00. That’s a ridiculous ERA of 1.69 in that span after a stretch of two months when he ERA ballooned as high as 6.96.

If the Orioles are going to persist on having Henderson in two of the top three spots iin the lineup no matter how deep hus rut (like Adley Rutschman last year), it’s going to take that kind of pitching to salvage what was lost in the first half of the season.

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